


Come On Make It Easy, Say I Never Mattered

by madsuptonogood



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Happy Ending, M/M, Pansexual Character, Smidge Of Angst, i feel like this got very dramatic very fast for no reason, so sorry for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 17:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11445924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsuptonogood/pseuds/madsuptonogood
Summary: "And he has totally stupid dimples when he smiles, and weirdly cool tattoos. And don’t even get me started on the actual parlor-”“Let me guess, weird and stupid?” Liam asks jokingly.“Yes! Exactly! So weird and stupid!” Louis waves his arms around to prove his point.“Mhmm, yep, I see.” Zayn had finally come back out with his water and he and Liam were leaning against the front counter watching Louis rant.“I knew I could count on you to agree with me Leemo.”“You like him,” Liam smiles smugly at the look of utter shock on Louis’ face.“What! How did you get that out of everything I said? Did you not hear me call him weird and stupid?”“Oh I heard you loud and clear,” Liam turns to Zayn. “Did you Zayn?”Louis looks at Zayn hopefully, waiting for him to prove Liam wrong. “Yep, I heard him. Sounds a lot like he likes Harry to me.”Tattoo parlor/flower shop au. Harry runs the tattoo parlor where Zayn gets his piercings done, and one fateful day Zayn brings Louis with him. Niall and Zayn scheme, Harry draws lots of flowers, Louis teases him, because what is healthy affection, and Liam pops in to act like the protective dad he is.





	Come On Make It Easy, Say I Never Mattered

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isntrio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isntrio/gifts).



> Right, so this is like super incredibly late, and I'm very sorry it took me so long to write this. I hope I did your prompt justice and you like it! I feel like things move really fast and get unreasonably dramatic, but I hit all of the major points, so please enjoy!
> 
> original prompt:  
> ace louis owns a flower shop and he's a bit lonely but reluctant to get into a relationship. but no need to fear bc best friend zayn is here and he knows someone (pansexual harry) who owns a tattoo parlor and they meet and they immediately like each other. but louis is nervous that harry doesn't like him (even though harry is so obvious) and nervous to come out to harry but harry is 1000% okay with it and he supports louis and a lot of pining and fluff with a little angst.
> 
> Things to know: I am very American and don't want to offend anyone by trying to make things sound British, so the slang/tone is also very American. This is also unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own. The title is a lyric from Fall Out Boy's "Young Volcanoes" 
> 
> also, Harry’s tattoo shop name is in no way related to another other tattoo shop named the inkwell/inkwell tattoos. I thought I was being clever when I came up with the name, apparently so did the like twenty other tattoo parlors that chose that name.

“Why did you drag me here, again?”

Zayn sighs heavily as he pushes the tattoo parlors door open, “I didn’t drag you here Lou, you begged me to take you with me.”

Louis scrunched up his nose, feigning offense, “I did not beg you! If anything you begged me! You said you needed moral support while you get the whatever bite thing for you lip. And I, being the kind and caring friend that I am, took time away from the store to come with you.”

“My hero,” Zayn rolls his eyes and walks to the empty front desk, looking for one of the workers. “And they’re called shark bites.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Louis plops down on the couch in the front room and looks around the shop, studying all of the art on the walls.

“Zayn! My man!”

Louis turns to see a blond guy walk out from one of the backrooms, arms open as he approaches Zayn.

“I was so happy when you called! It’s been a while dude! Did your last tattoo heal up all right?” His voice booms throughout the small room. He gives Zayn a pat on the back and starts moving him around to look at his tattoos and piercings.

“Hey Niall. Yeah, it’s doing all right, the skin finally stopped flaking,” Zayn just smiles, already used to Niall’s lack of personal boundaries.

“So what are we doing for you today?” Niall finally puts Zayn’s arm down and faces him.

“I was thinking we could expand my snake bites to shark bites?” Zayn shrugs noncommittally.

“Shark bites huh?” Niall grabs Zayn’s chin and starts tilting his face this way and that and messing with his bottom lip, thinking about where to put the piercings. “That could work. You know what, yeah. Yeah, let’s do it! Oh you’re going to look so badass!”

Niall lets go of Zayn and gives a small excited jump and pulls Zayn towards one of the back rooms.

Zayn turns back to Louis, “You coming? I thought you were here for moral support?”

Louis looks at Zayn and takes a moment to reply, having been distracted by the different sketches and art work hung on the walls. “Of course I’m coming, I was just waiting on you.”

Zayn laughs at Louis’ haughty attitude and gestures for him to follow with a wave of his hand. Louis jogs a little to catch up, stopping just outside of the back room Niall led them to. Niall and Zayn already inside, Niall grabbing his supplies while Zayn settles into the chair next to his work station, and Louis takes a moment to look around at all of the decorations on the walls before he sits down on one of the extra chairs. This had to be one of the weirdest tattoo parlors Louis had ever been to; the usual hardcore or ‘classic’ tattoo style that decorated most parlors was completely absent. In its place instead were frames of poetry and posters from theater plays and musicals, or classic movies, with pictures of sketches mixed in. And weirdest of all, a bunch of random feathers were tacked onto all of the walls.

Louis must have made a face, because the next thing he knows, Niall is laughing and Zayn is apologizing for his behavior.

“You’ll have to excuse him Ni, he doesn’t get out of the shop much.”

“Hey! I resent that!” Louis huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m out of the shop right now aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” Zayn rolls his eyes, “Because Liam basically pushed you out the door and wouldn’t let you back in.”

 Niall just keeps laughing, actually Louis’ not sure he’s stopped laughing since they arrived. “What’s got you lookin’ so puzzled over there then?”

“This is just the weirdest looking tattoo shop I’ve ever been in, is all,” Louis admits. At Zayn’s look of reprimand, Louis continues on petulantly. “What! There are feathers on the walls!”

This sets Niall off on another peel of laughter and Zayn hangs his head in second hand embarrassment. “They’re quills you idiot, since the shop is called ‘Inkwell Tattoos’?”

Louis flushes slightly in embarrassment, but doesn’t say anything, looking around the room again with a slight pout.

Niall distracts Louis from his mini strop, “So you work at a shop you said?”

Louis instantly lights up and turns towards Niall and Zayn again, “Yeah! I own a flower shop just a block west of here!”

“Oh awesome. What’s it called? I might have passed it before.”

“Bros’ Buds,” Louis says with a shit eating grin.

Zayn shakes his head again and intervenes since Niall hasn’t started the piercings yet. “Don’t listen to him. It’s called Jay’s Blooms. It’s been in his family for a couple generations, and he’s been trying to change the name since he was five.”

This sets Niall off once again, and Louis looks at Zayn and wiggles his eyebrows as if to make a point about changing the name.

“Well, it’s brilliant either way,” Niall’s laughter finally dies down. “All right, let’s get started on this so I can send you on your way Zayn.”

They all settle in as Niall gives Zayn the normal spiel on how the procedure works and warns him as he started disinfecting the area below his lip.

Since neither Zayn nor Niall are making conversation and Louis is already tired of trying to decipher the cursive all of the poems are written in, he pulls out his phone to bother Liam and make sure the shop is doing ok.

“Louis stop that,” Zayn tells him in between the two piercings. “Liam is way more responsible than you, the shop is in good hands. You literally could not have left any one better in charge.”

Louis sighs dramatically and looks up from his phone. “Yeah Liam’s responsible, but he’s shit with the flowers. He always mixes up their names, and has no idea what any of them mean.”

“Oh my god Louis, you have got to be kiddin-”

“Flowers?” Zayn gets cut off by a ridiculously deep voice from somewhere in the hall outside of the room. All three of them turn to look at the door, Zayn and Niall wincing at the sound of the person running into something and stumbling down the hall while Louis just looks even more curious.

“You ok mate?” Niall asks when the person finally makes it to the doorway. Their face is a little flushed from rushing down the hall and their hair is a mess, wisps of curls breaking away from the bun the rest of the deep brown locks are pulled back in.

“I heard someone talking about flowers,” the man says breathlessly, not even acknowledging the question.

Niall is once again off laughing and Louis looks more weirded out than curious now. Zayn sighs, the look on his face clearly telling everyone he thinks he’s surrounded by idiots.

“Yeah, that was us. Harry, meet my mate Louis. He owns a flower shop near here,” Zayn introduces them. “Lou, this is Harry, he owns the tattoo parlor and is the main artist here.”

“Everything makes a lot more sense now,” Louis nods to himself.

Harry is looking right at Louis, the unwavering stare a bit off putting, “You know about flowers? You said you knew all the names and meanings?”

“Yes?” Louis answers hesitantly.

“Perfect!” Harry takes off back down the hall without another word. In less than a minute, he’s back in the doorway, looking a little more disheveled but very triumphant. He holds up a small leather bound book with a small ‘aha!’ before grabbing the only empty chair in the room and sitting down next to Louis.

“This is absolutely perfect, I thought I was going to have to spend the whole night googling this,” Harry mumbles to himself, rapidly flipping through the notebook. He finally stops at a page about three quarters of the way through with another small exclamation and turns the book around to show Louis a small sketch of some flowers. “Do you know what kind of flowers these are?”

“Harry,” Niall says in a scolding tone, throwing the younger man a disappointed look.

“Oh my god!” Harry’s cheeks flush again when he realizes how rude he’s been. “I’m so sorry, that was all very sudden of me! Sorry, it’s just that I saw these the other day out in town and I thought they were really pretty but after I finished sketching them I realized I had no idea what kind they were, and it’s been bugging the crap out of me.”

Louis takes what he now realizes is a sketch book from Harry to look at the drawing more closely. Niall sighs in exasperation and goes back to finishing the second piercing. Louis gives a light hum before handing the sketchbook back to Harry, “Those look like cosmos to me. They can represent a couple different things. Some people say that they represent peacefulness, wholeness, and modesty, while the Greek translation for them is orderly, beautiful, and ornamental. Did you know there’s a specific cosmos that smells like chocolate?”

The amount of happiness radiating off of Harry is a little ridiculous considering all Louis did was tell him about a flower, but apparently Harry is easily amazed.

“That was amazing,” Harry looks even more excited than when he first came in with his sketchbook. He flips to another page with more flowers and hands the book back to Louis. “Do you know what these ones are too?”

“Oh, these ones are easy, they’re buttercups. They symbolize humility, neatness, and childishness. They’re also known as Coyote’s eyes.”

Louis continues to flip through the pages, naming more flowers and their meanings without even asking Harry if it was ok. To be fair, Harry doesn’t look like he minds.

“Wait,” suddenly Louis stops on a page more towards the middle of the book, his face a mixture of confusion and wonder. “These are prairie gentians! But they usually grow more in the south, I’ve never seen them here in California! Trust me, I’ve been begging my mom for years to order some for me to grow.”

“Are you sure? I thought that they were peonies?” Harry is almost falling out of his seat so he can lean over and see which drawing Louis is talking about.

“Nope! These are definitely prairie gentians. Or, well, that’s one of the common names for them, they’re actually called lisianthus. They look a lot like a couple other flowers, like peonies or even roses. Sometimes they’re called the poor man’s rose because of how much they look alike. But I would know those petals anywhere! These are definitely lisianthus! They symbolize a couple different things, but people usually give them as a romantic gift or to show great respect.”

Harry looks up at Louis (he had gotten so heated he had stood up in the middle of his rant) and gently takes his sketchbook back to look at the drawing again. “You know what, this must have been from when I visited Texas for a convention, there was a field of them right outside of the hotel.”

Louis sits back down, feeling vindicated that the flowers had indeed been from somewhere else. “Your sketches are amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone capture that much detail before.”

Harry perks right back up at the compliment. “Did you want to get it?”

“What?” Niall and Zayn chimed in with Louis at the same time, all three turning to look at Harry.

“Well, I mean, would you want to get it as a tattoo?” The blush was back out in full force as Harry traced the sketch with his finger, not looking at Louis or the others. “Since you like the flowers and you know so much about them? I think it would look really good on your forearm, right above the skull you have?”

At Louis’ unconvinced expression, Harry jumps up and runs out of the room again, coming back with a marker in hand. “Here, I’ll show you!”

“Ok?” Louis sits there and watches as Harry starts drawing.

Niall and Zayn share a knowing look, and Niall goes back to giving Zayn the aftercare instructions for his piercings. He doesn’t spend too long on them since Zayn has gotten so many piercings before and they end up just talking about what they’ve been up to while Harry finishes drawing on Louis.

“There!” Harry announces with a flourish, capping the marker. “I told you it would look good right there!”

“Yeah, it’s not too bad,” Louis mumbles, more to himself, as he looks his arm over.

“Well, are you ready to go?” Zayn asks as he and Niall stand up and start heading towards the front room.

“Oh!” Harry jumps up from where he was sitting in front of the door. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hold you up. I’m sure you both have busy schedules.”

All four of them head out together and stop at the front desk so Zayn can pay for his new piercings. Louis and Harry step over to the side, closer to the door. Harry takes a second to just look Louis over, trying to match his idea of what a florist is with the man in front of him.

Just as he’s worked up the courage to ask if they could maybe meet up sometime again, Louis starts talking.

“Well Harold, you’re an odd one. A fucking sick artist, but so fucking weird,” Louis claps him on the back once and then starts to head for the door. “I’ve got to get back to the shop, make sure Liam hasn’t burned anything down. Zayn, hurry up before I leave without you!”

Zayn flips him the bird and finishes his conversation with Niall, setting up a checkup appointment for the next week like he always does. Right before he leaves, Zayn catches Harry’s dejected look.

“Don’t sweat it too much, that’s just how Lou is,” Zayn tries to reassure him, also giving him a pat on the back. Harry grabs his arm to stop Zayn from leaving, a pleading look on his face.

“Wait, so is he like,” he pauses, trying to find the right words. “Is he, like, is he interested?”

Zayn laughs and pats Harry’s face a couple of times, but doesn’t say anything else as he leaves the tattoo parlor. He gives Harry a quick wink right before the door closes, but then he and Louis are off down the street, the faint sound of Louis yelling about Zayn taking too long.

Harry looks to Niall for help, but the blonde just laughs at Harry too and disappears into his work room, pulling out his phone.

“What the fuck?”

~*~*~

The bell above the door chimes as Zayn and Louis walk into the flower shop. Louis immediately does a quick walk around the store to make sure everything is as it should be.

“Well hello to you too,” Liam gives Louis a pointed look. He completely ignores Liam, fussing over some of the flowers instead. Zayn nods his head in greeting and goes to the break room to grab a water bottle. “I told you I could take care of the shop without you. Look, not a flower out of place.”

Louis waves him off and continues to fiddle with the flowers, even though true to Liam’s word, there’s nothing wrong with any of them. “Yeah, yeah, so you say.”

“Louis!” Liam exclaims when he catches sight of Louis’ forearm. “You got another tattoo? You were just supposed to go for Zayn’s piercing! You don’t have the money for that!”

“Excuse you Liam!” Louis stands up, actually kind of offended. “Whether or not I have enough money for it is none of your business, but for your information, I am financially stable enough to afford a new tattoo. It doesn’t matter any way-”

“Of course it matters Louis!”

“It doesn’t matter, _Liam_ ,” Louis gives him his own pointed look and talks over his protests. “Because it’s not actually a tattoo. It’s just a drawing, done with a marker.”

“Oh,” Liam has the sense to look a little ashamed for his outburst. “It looks really nice. What kind of flowers are those? Who drew it?”

Louis takes it as the apology he knows it is and gives Liam a small smile, “They’re lisianthus. The owner of the tattoo parlor that Zayn goes to drew it for me. His name’s Harry?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met him. I’ve only ever seen Niall when I go over there.”

“Well be glad that you haven’t met him yet. He’s totally weird,” Louis crosses his arms to gear up for his rant about the young man. “Like, he’s stupidly tall, just a stick with a bunch of gangly limbs that he doesn’t know how to control at all. He’s basically Bambi, almost crashed walking around his own studio. His hair is also stupidly long, like who needs that much hair? Especially curly hair, that’s just selfish, he should spread it around instead of keeping it all to himself. It’s long enough, he should donate it so it can be made into a wig for someone in need. He’s not doing anything with it but putting it into buns. And he’s weirdly enthusiastic about everything, like who has that much energy? And he has totally stupid dimples when he smiles, and weirdly cool tattoos. And don’t even get me started on the actual parlor-”

“Let me guess, weird and stupid?” Liam asks jokingly.

“Yes! Exactly! So weird and stupid!” Louis waves his arms around to prove his point.

“Mhmm, yep, I see.” Zayn had finally come back out with his water and he and Liam were leaning against the front counter watching Louis rant.

“I knew I could count on you to agree with me Leemo.”

“You like him,” Liam smiles smugly at the look of utter shock on Louis’ face.

“What! How did you get that out of everything I said? Did you not hear me call him weird and stupid?”

“Oh I heard you loud and clear,” Liam turns to Zayn. “Did you Zayn?”

Louis looks at Zayn hopefully, waiting for him to prove Liam wrong. “Yep, I heard him. Sounds a lot like he likes Harry to me.”

“Et tu, Brute?” Louis dramatically puts his hand to his chest and looks taken aback.

“Lou, come on, you do this every time you like someone. You act all indifferent and try to push them away,” Zayn drones on in a bored tone. “You did this back in school, you did it in university. Hell you did it with-”

“We don’t mention him and you know that,” Louis’ cold tone, all of the amusement gone. “I should get back to work, I have a shop to run.”

~*~*~

“Zayn!” Niall’s greeting is just as exuberant as it was the first time. He pulls Zayn and then Louis in to a hug. “Louis! I didn’t know if we would be seeing you again or not!”

“He’s convinced I spend too much time in the shop, so he’s been taking me out to run errands with him. Says it’s to ‘socialize’ me,” Louis hugs Niall back, putting on a pout for show.

Niall gives him a final pat on the back before letting go and leading Louis and Zayn back towards his work room. “Maybe I should start doing that with Haz. Lord knows he would live in this parlor if it weren’t for Louise and Nick.”

Louis pauses outside of Niall’s room, “Wait, who-”

“You talkin’ shit about me again Horan?” Harry calls out from somewhere else in the parlor. Before Louis can do anything else, Harry is there, right behind him. He leans on the doorframe and looks at Niall over Louis’ head, a giant goofy grin on his face.

“You know it,” Niall manages to keep a straight face for exactly five seconds before he breaks down laughing. “Now go away, I’m with a customer.”

Harry looks a little put out, mumbling something about how it’s just Zayn, and starts to head back to his own work station until he notices that he’s standing next to Louis. “Louis! Hey, hi, I didn’t notice you there!”

He hears Zayn laugh and Niall grumble something, but ignores them in favor of looking Louis over. Without waiting for him to respond, Harry grabs Louis’ arm and pulls it up to get a better look.

“My drawing! You kept it. What happened to it?”

Louis tugs his arm away from Harry, an embarrassed flush coloring his cheeks, “Well permanent marker isn’t all that permanent, is it? And we all can’t be an artist like you, Harold.”

Harry is positively vibrating with glee. He grabs Louis’ arm again and starts pulling him down the hall where the tattooing area is. “I can redo it for you! Let me get my sketch book!”

Harry gently pushes Louis onto the chair at his work station and hands him some alcohol wipes. “Sit, sit. Here, go ahead and wipe off the old ink.”

Louis watches Harry search for his sketchbook, holding the wipes in confusion. “Aren’t you just going to retrace what’s already there? Why do I have to wipe it off?”

Harry sits down in his own chair, his sketchbook in hand, and scoots closer to Louis. He puts his book in his lap and takes the wipes back from Louis, shaking his head slightly while wiping the ink away for him. “I just remembered that I found a drawing I thought you would like of some flowers that I had done a while ago, so I figured I would draw that instead so you have something new to look at.”

Louis turns his head to try and hide the small smile that knowing Harry had thought of him caused. “Let’s see this drawing then. Chop-chop Harold, we haven’t got all day. Some of us have a business to run you know.”

Harry scrunches his face up in an attempt to look serious, “Oh yes of course, forgive me for making you wait.”

Louis looks at the sketch Harry hands him and hums, pretending to think it over. He turns his nose up and hands the drawing back to Harry, “You’re forgiven. But only because that’s one of the best drawings of the hanging fuschia flower I’ve ever seen.”

Louis didn’t think it was possible, but Harry’s smile gets even bigger as he finishes drying off Louis’ arm and starts to draw.

“I’ll take it.”

\--

Meanwhile, down the hall:

Niall and Zayn quietly back away from the corner where they had been spying on Harry and Louis and go to Niall’s work room again.

“They’re so gone for each other.”

“I know! Isn’t it great?” Niall sighs dreamily as he sits down. He looks at Zayn where he’s leaning against the wall, a smirk on his face and a glint of mischief in his eyes. “Bet you they’re banging at Harry’s station by the end of the week.”

An odd look passes over Zayn’s face that Niall can’t make sense of before Zayn schools his face into a more wry look. “I think your underestimating how stubborn Louis is.”

Niall sits quietly, a look of hard concentration on his face before it breaks into a smile. “Then maybe we should help them along.”

Zayn crosses his arms over his chest, looking at Niall suspiciously, “What do you mean?”

“Oh you know,” Niall says, wiggling his eyebrows and winking at Zayn exaggeratedly. At Zayn’s nonplussed expression, Niall deflates a little. “Oh my god, we try to set them up!”

Zayn still looks skeptical, “How? Neither of them ever leaves their shop.”

The eyebrow wiggles are back, “Well, Louis’ not in his shop right now is he?”

“What are you proposing?” Zayn asks, picking up on Niall’s suggestive tone.

“Keep coming ‘round to the shop. Pretend that I’m still checking up on your piercings. I’m sure those two will do the rest of the work on their own.”

Zayn nods decisively.

“I’m in.”

~*~*~

“Louis! What are you doing here?” Harry sounds startled and his question comes out more like a shriek then he meant it to. He quickly gets himself back under control, pushing away the surprise at seeing Louis again after a week of nothing. He clears his throat and stands up straighter in the doorway to the parlor, “I mean – you’re here! It’s good to see you again. What ah- what brings you by?”

Louis can’t help but smirk at Harry’s nervous tone. “Just accompanying Zayn to his check up.”

Harry’s face scrunches in confusion for a moment, but Louis doesn’t seem to notice, just keeps talking and pushes into Harry’s personal space. “C’mon now Harold, what kind of customer service is this? How long are you going to make us wait to be let inside?”

Louis doesn’t succeed in hiding his laughter as Harry scrambles to get out of the door way so Louis and Zayn can enter. Harry’s cheeks flush slightly in embarrassment, but he’s quickly distracted by the blank space on Louis’ arm where his drawing had been. Harry doesn’t even notice Zayn slipping around him to disappear into Niall’s work room as he stops Louis by grabbing the offending arm.

“What happened? Did you not like the drawing after all?”

Louis’ mischievous smirk softens into something a bit gentler, betraying the sarcasm in his voice. “Had to make room for the new drawing now, didn’t I?”

Louis pats Harry’s face in as condescending a manner as he can before pulling his arm out of Harry’s hold and sauntering, freaking _sauntering_ , over to Harry’s work station. Harry takes a moment to gather himself before following after Louis. He’s pretty sure Louis is teasing him, which he thinks mean Louis likes him. That’s what he figured out from that first day two weeks ago at least, despite Zayn’s incredibly vague and unhelpful answer.

\--

Zayn shushes Niall again, not wanting his giggles to attract attention to them. Although, he honestly doesn’t think there’s anything that could break Louis and Harry out of the bubble they’re in. Niall thankfully waits until the door is closed to his workroom before he basically collapses into his chair laughing.

“Oh they are so gone for each other,” Niall slaps his knee a couple times and even wipes a tear away from his eyes. Zayn doesn’t understand what’s so funny, but Niall’s laughter is infectious and makes him smile. “I about died when Haz opened the door. He looked like he about had a heart attack.”

Niall dissolves into laughter again, and Zayn has to agree. The look of panic on Harry’s face was hilarious. It was also kind of cute seeing him scramble around.

“It’s nice to see him care about someone again,” Niall’s face is serious when Zayn looks at him again, all traces of laughter gone. “I didn’t think I’d ever really see it happen, after last time.”

Zayn nods, thinking about Louis’ last relationship, “I didn’t think I would either.”

~*~*~

It goes well, for a while after that. Louis visits on the same day every week, and Harry eventually stops looking so surprised, but just as thrilled, every time it happens. He even stops booking clients for that hour, so he knows for sure it’ll just be him and Louis.

After the first couple weeks, Louis stops using Zayn’s check-ups as an excuse to go and see Harry and starts to go on his own. A week after that, Louis starts bringing food with him because he finds out that Harry keeps skipping lunch to hang out and talk to him. Harry tries to make it better by explaining he did it before hanging out with Louis too; it doesn’t make it better. Louis brings more food and spends half the time he’s at Harry’s making sure he eats at least half of the food he brings.

(“C’mon Harold, eat up.”

“Lou, honestly, I can’t eat another bite, I’ll burst.”

“Oh you’re not getting out of this that easily. You’re a growing boy, you need your nutrients!”

“A growing boy? Just how old do you think I am?”

“…”

“I’m 25 Louis! I own my own business! I am not a growing boy!”

“Oh hush, owning your own business does not make you special Harold. And either way, you’re still younger than me, so what I say goes. And I say eat!”)

Every week Harry manages to surprise Louis with a completely new design using different flowers. Louis is secretly waiting for the week that Harry repeats a flower so he can gloat about him being unoriginal.

Neither boy can shut up about the other. Niall just smiles and keeps an eye out for any interesting flowers. Zayn rolls his eyes and acts annoyed, but doesn’t tell Louis to shut up no matter how many times he’s heard about how amazing Harry’s hair is.

It gets to the point, almost two months later, that Liam demands to meet Harry the next time Louis goes to visit. It only takes an hour to convince Louis to do it, but he holds out until they close up the flower shop to tell Liam he can meet Harry.

Of course, that’s the day that everything goes to shit.

~*~*~

Louis’ morning had already started out bad. He had woken up late and ended up opening the flower shop half an hour later than usual, which wouldn’t have been a big deal, but this particular Wednesday everyone and their brother apparently needed flowers. By the time he got to the shop, there was a line of ten angry customers. Thankfully Zayn and Liam showed up right on time to relieve him so he could grab some food on the way over to Harry’s. Getting the food took longer than usual since Louis was buying enough for Liam too, and Liam had to put his hand on Louis’ shoulder to calm him down more than once as he get antsier the longer it took.

They finally have the food and are down the street from the tattoo parlor when Louis grabs Liam’s arm and pulls him to a stop.

“Lou, c’mon,” Liam drags out. “What’s wrong now?”

“What if you don’t like him? What if he doesn’t like you and then he thinks I have terrible friends and doesn’t want to talk to me or see me anymore-”

“Woah! Louis stop,” Liam cuts Louis off before his thoughts can spiral any farther. “If Harry is as great as you’ve been telling me he is, then of course I’ll like him.”

Louis still looks nervous though, and won’t look up at Liam. Liam ducks down a little to try and look at Louis’ face. “And I’m a little offended that you think I’m bad enough that Harry would dislike me so much he’d stop liking you. Am I really that bad?”

Louis finally looks up, shaking off his nerves at Liam’s joking tone and putting on as much bravado as he could muster. “Of course you are Liam, why do you think I’ve kept you hidden in the flower shop this whole time?”

Liam rolls his eyes and puts his hand on Louis’ lower back to guide him towards Harry’s shop.

Harry isn’t at the door to greet Louis like he usually is, and Louis frowns a little, nerves coming back full force. He’s only five minutes later than he usually is, and Louis knows that Harry wouldn’t just go somewhere else. He’s waited for Louis for up to ten minutes before, so it’s definitely not Louis’ tardiness. He sets the food down on the coffee table in the small waiting area at the front, Liam standing beside Louis to get a better look at the place.

Louis is about to call out for Niall to ask where Harry is when Harry finally comes out from his work station in the back, followed closely by a woman. Louis doesn’t recognize her; she looks older than him, definitely older than Harry. Her hair is that weird died white color that has been getting popular lately, and her makeup looks professionally done. The thing Louis can’t get over is how comfortable Harry looks with her. His body language is loose and he’s laughing that loud braying laugh that he uses with Louis and Harry; he’s not in customer service mode where he’s stiffer and uses his weird fake charm.

Louis completely freezes, body locking up and hand fisted in the back of Liam’s shirt when Harry says, “It’s a date then, love,” and the woman leans over and plants a kiss on the corner of Harry’s mouth, bright red lipstick smearing onto his cheek. Louis feels his stomach drop when she gives Harry a light smack on the ass as a parting gift before walking past Louis and Liam and out the front door.

Louis hasn’t moved by the time Harry notices him.

“Lou! You made it!” Harry calls out, walking over to Louis and Liam, opening his arms up for a hug. Hearing his name finally jolts Louis out of the trance he was stuck in, his fist tightening on Liam’s shirt the closer Harry got and a weird choking noise making its way out of his throat.

“Lou?” Harry’s arms slowly drop and his head tilts in confusion at the stricken look on Louis’ face. He’s finally an arm’s length away and tries to reach for Louis again, but Liam moves until he completely blocks Louis from sight. Before he can try to move around Liam, Harry hears a quiet, strained “no,” and the next thing he knows, Louis is out the door and running down the street.

Harry tries to move around Liam again and call out for Louis, but Liam moves with him, pushing him back with a hand to his chest.

Liam levels him with a harsh glare and barely holds back from yelling, “Don’t you fucking dare, you fucking dick,” before he’s out the door and running after Louis.

Harry stares at the door, trying to process what had just happened.

“The fuck just happened?” Niall comes up behind him, sounding as confused as Harry feels.

“I honestly have no idea.”

\--

“Louis!” Liam calls after him, finally getting close enough to grab his arm and force him to stop running. “Lou, just hold on a second!”

“No!” Louis tries to yank his arm out of Liam’s hold, but Liam holds on tighter to keep him from running off again. “I know how this goes Liam! I don’t need to stick around to see it happen again!”

Liam pulls Louis into a bear hug, crushing him to his chest. “I know, I know. I know Lou, and I don’t want you to go through it again. But just take a second. Breathe.”

“It was going so well. I thought it was going so well,” Louis mumbles into Liam’s chest. “I should have known. It’ll be just like all of the other times. He’ll say its ok at first, but then he’ll get tired of waiting, he’ll find someone else. He’s already tired and found someone else. And it’ll be my fault again, I’ll have pushed him to it. It’ll be my fault.”

“Hey, hey, no, not at all,” Liam’s stomach drops and he pulls Louis in as tight as he can. “It wasn’t your fault last time and it’s definitely not your fault this time. I wish I could fucking punch that bastard for ever telling you that. It was his choice to cheat, and you are in no way at fault for that. The same with whatever is going on with Harry. You’re not responsible for that, okay? I really will punch him in the face if he tries to say otherwise.”

“Can we just go back to the shop?” Louis sounds like he’s on the verge of tears, so Liam lets him go and tucks Louis under his arm instead. He guides them back to the flower shop as fast as he can.

~*~*~

Harry makes it about a week before he starts panicking. He tries to convince himself that Louis ran out the first day because there was a sudden emergency at the flower shop. He ignores the pitying looks Niall gives him every time he catches Harry mumbling that under his breath to himself. No matter how persuasive he makes the argument, for every day that passes with no contact from Louis, Harry becomes less convinced. When Louis doesn’t show up for their next meeting, Harry finally gives in and asks Niall to ask Zayn for Louis’ number.

(“Has he responded yet?”

“Harry, it’s been five seconds, of course he hasn’t responded yet.”

“What about now?”

“I swear to god Harry, no. I’ll tell you as soon as he responds. Now go away and do something”

“Fine.”

“Harry! Zayn finally messaged back.”

“What did he say? C’mon Niall, what did he say!”

“No.”

“What?”

“He said ‘no’.”

“Fuck.”

“Why don’t you just call the flower shop?”

“I am not going to corner him while he’s working Niall! I can’t believe you’d even suggest that!”)

It takes a couple days, several phone calls, and allowing himself to be yelled at before Zayn gives him Louis’ number. It doesn’t do much besides confirm that Louis is avoiding and ignoring Harry.

After Louis misses their second meeting since the day he ran out of the tattoo parlor, Harry convinces Niall and Zayn to help him make a plan to get Louis back. Or to at least let him explain what happened.

\--

On the third week since the misunderstanding, Harry visits Louis at the flower shop after they close up instead of waiting for Louis to visit him. Niall bugs him, telling him he should go at lunch time so it’s more romantic. Harry explains that if he did that he would be taking advantage of Louis being stuck at work, and waiting till they’re closed might not be as romantic, but at least Louis would have the chance to leave if he wanted to. Niall knows that he’s right, but asks him again five minutes later anyway.

He texts Zayn to make sure that they can get into the flower shop and Zayn messages back that he unlocked the front door when Louis wasn’t looking so they can walk in whenever they get there.

Harry stops right before he opens the door to the flower shop. He can see Louis towards the back of the shop checking on and rearranging flowers, and suddenly he feels like he’s in elementary school again about to give a speech in front of everyone for the first time. All his confidence is gone and he can’t remember what he wanted to say, even though he wrote it out and he’s been practicing it for days.

“Niall. Niall, I can’t do it,” Harry chokes out, hands starting to shake. “I can’t do it, I’ll just be bothering him. I mean, he hates me, he’s already made that apparent. What am I doing dragging it out like this? Maybe we should just go back.”

Niall turns Harry around and holds him by his shoulders, looking straight into Harry’s eyes with one of the most serious expressions Harry’s ever seen. “Haz, listen to me. One, you _can_ do this, you got me and Z behind you, ok? We got your back and we’ll help you see this through. Two, You won’t be bothering him. You are worth taking up space and time, you hear me? You are worth this, and your feelings for him are worth this. Three, he does not hate you. If he did, Zayn wouldn’t have helped us with this and he would have told you to fuck off-”

“He did tell me to fuck off.”

“-He would have told you to fuck off and meant it, and wouldn’t have given you Louis’ number or any of the other things he did. And finally, we are going into that flower shop if it’s the last thing we do because he care about that boy more than I’ve seen you care about anyone else. You blocked off time that you could have spent tattooing someone for him. You didn’t even do that for your ex. So yes, we are dragging this out, we are going in there and bothering him because this is something worth bothering him about, got it?”

Harry stops wringing his hands but he doesn’t look any more confident than before, the hesitation on his face clear as day.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Niall swears, reaching past Harry to open the door and shoving Harry in before he can convince himself to actually walk away. Harry stumbles a little, but Zayn, who had been waiting by the front door so he could keep an eye out for them, catches him before he can fall.

“I thought I locked the door?” Louis pauses and mumbles to himself when he hears the bell above the door ring. He shakes his head, and without turning around, calls out, “I’m sorry, but we’re closed for the day. We open again at 7 tomorrow morning.”

“Um, I, uh, I know,” Harry stutters.

Louis stops completely and slowly turns around from where he had been collecting flowers into a small vase. When he finally sees Harry, his eyes go wide and he whispers a quiet “fuck.”

The vase crashes to the ground.

Harry just continues to stand in the doorway, nervous hands tugging on his clothes and his hair. Zayn rolls his eyes at their dramatics and pushes Harry forward.

“Um, hi, I-I just wanted to talk to you?” The uncertainty in Harry’s voice makes it sound more like a question than anything.

Before Louis can respond, Liam is coming in from wherever he had been hiding in the back room. “Lou, what was that? It sounded like some glass broke.”

Liam also pauses when he sees Harry, but he doesn’t pause for long. He looks to Louis, takes in how pale he looks and the shards of glass and the flowers surrounding him, and goes into protective dad mode. He’s marching over to Harry, index finger pointing at him and, once Liam gets close enough, poking his chest.

“You! No, no! Absolutely not. You need to leave, I will not let you hurt him more than you already have. Get the fuck out and never come back!”

Harry tried to interrupt, but he couldn’t get his vocal cords to cooperate, his nerves paralyzing him. Liam catches him off guard, accusing him of hurting Louis or trying to hurt him more. It knocks him out of his trance, and he pushes his nerves aside.

“What the hell? I didn’t come here to hurt him, and I certainly didn’t intend to hurt him in the first place-”

“I don’t care what you came here to do! You need to leave. Go home to your girlfriend and leave Louis alone!”

“You know what, no,” Harry stands up straighter, hoping his height will intimidate Liam a little. “I don’t have a girlfriend, the whole situation is a misunderstanding, and I came here to explain it. I’m not leaving until _Louis_ tells me to.”

They all turn to look at Louis, who doesn’t look as much like a deer caught in the headlights as he did before Liam came out.

“No girlfriend?” Louis whispers hesitantly. Harry shakes his head and repeats “No girlfriend,” just as softly.

“But – then, who was-”

“Zayn told me everything, so just-” Harry cuts in quickly, wanting to explain everything as quickly as possible. “Just, listen to me for a second, please?”

Louis looks surprised, but he nods his head in agreement.

Harry takes a shaky breath in, not expecting Louis to give in and actually let him explain everything so easily. “All right, so the woman you saw with me a couple weeks ago is an old friend of mine. I’ve known her for, I honestly don’t even know how long anymore, it seems like she’s been there since the beginning. Her name is Lou too, actually, Louise Teasdale. She helped me set up the tattoo parlor and now I do her and her husband’s tattoos. When she said ‘it’s a date’, she wasn’t talking about an actual date between me and her. She had come over to ask me to babysit her daughter Lux over the weekend. That’s it, nothing else was going on.”

“Oh,” Louis still sounds meek and hesitant, and Harry doesn’t like it. He had expected Louis to be happy or excited, or to be his usual snarky self and tease Harry about it. He doesn’t understand what’s going on.

“Oh?”

“I – yeah?” Harry hates how uncertain Louis looks. “I mean, thank you, I guess? For explaining. You didn’t have to.”

“Is that really all you have to say?”  Harry asked, an incredulous note making its way into his voice.

“What do you want me to say Harry?” Louis looks defeated, and not at all relieved like Harry had hoped he would. “What do you want me to do?”

“Fuck, I don’t know! I want you to actually say something! Yell at me! Tell me it hurt because you care about me and you thought I cared too!” Harry pulls at his hair nervously, his voice rising as he goes off script. He hadn’t thought past explaining what had actually happened because he thought Louis would guide the conversation from there. “Because I do care about you Louis! So much! I wouldn’t let people make appointments at lunch time anymore so I could hang out with you. I didn’t even do that for my ex-boyfriend! You’re important to me, and our lunches together became my favorite part of my week. And like, obviously this doesn’t mean you owe me anything or that I think we should be in a relationship because I did those things. But, I thought you liked me too? I thought it was mutual.”

Harry trails off towards the end, finally looking Louis in the eye. The look on Louis’ face doesn’t make Harry feel any better; his brow scrunched up and his mouth turned down in a grimace. Louis opens and closes his mouth a few times, debating what he wants to say. Finally, he takes in a deep breath and his face softens.

“I do like you,” his voice is barely louder than a whisper.

 “Really?”

Louis’ mouth quirks up a little at Harry’s disbelief, “Really really.”

A smile breaks out on Harry’s face and he walks over to Louis, arms open for a hug. Louis puts his arms up, pushing on Harry’s chest lightly to stop him.

“What? What’s wrong? I explained everything. I’m not dating anyone, I want to be dating you. You said you like me,” Harry can’t help but sound helpless, still not understanding what was happening.

“I-I know,” Louis stutters. “I do like you. But we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I- because- we just-” Louis stops and lets out a frustrated breath. “Because we just can’t, ok?”

“Lou please,” Harry’s voice is starting to sound desperate. “If you really don’t want to, then of course I’ll leave you alone, I won’t push it. But please tell me more than that, please?”

Louis pulls his hands back from Harry’s chest, grabbing on to the hem of his own shirt instead. He looks away, staring blankly at the floor, “I don’t want to tell you.”

The soft ‘fuck’ Harry says under his breath makes Louis fold in on himself more. “Okay. That’s- okay. Um, I’ll just get out of your hair then.”

Louis panics when Harry starts to move away. He didn’t expect Harry to just accept that, he thought he would push, tell him that his reason wasn’t good enough, that he needed to give him a real reason. Louis grabs Harry’s shirt without thinking, “Wait!”

Harry stops, but he doesn’t turn around. Louis doesn’t know what to do, what he wants, so he does the first thing that comes to mind.

“Please.”

Harry’s shoulders tense up and he whirls around, all the calm gone.

“That’s not fair Louis. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to reject me and then ask me to stay. You have to choose, do you want me or not?”

“I- I don’t-” Louis looks bewildered, not having expected Harry’s outburst. “I don’t know.”

“I need you to know Louis, I need you to decide.”

“But-”

“No! No buts!” There’s a hard edge to Harry’s voice. “I’m a person too Louis, my feelings matter. You don’t get to jerk me around for fun, I can’t take that. Whatever your reason is for not wanting to be together is fine, you don’t have to tell me, but you don’t get to ask me to stay too. One or the other Louis. You either want me here or you don’t.”

“You won’t like me any more if I tell you though,” Louis is on the edge of whining.

“I don’t care Louis! I don’t care what your reason is! I like you and that’s enough-”

“It’s because I’m ace!” Louis finally shouts, matching Harry’s tone. “It’s because I’m asexual, okay?”

That makes Harry pause. “Okay. So?”

“So? So?!” Louis sounds almost hysterical. “What do you mean so? I’m asexual! I don’t find anyone sexually attractive, I don’t really want to have sex, kind of like, ever!”

“So?” Harry shrugs, trying to find the right words. At Louis’ murderous look, he quickly continues, “Sex isn’t everything in a relationship. Yeah, it’s something we’ll have to talk about, because it’s something all couples should talk about and we would talk about it even if you weren’t ace. Sex isn’t a dealer breaker.”

“It was for my last boyfriend,” Louis mumbles so low Harry almost doesn’t hear it.

“Oh, Lou,” Harry closes the distance between them immediately, hugging Louis tightly when he doesn’t resist. “I’m so sorry. Look, I promise sex isn’t that big a thing for me. I don’t care that you’re ace. Well, I do, because I care about you and that’s an important part of you, but you being ace doesn’t change anything. Just like I hope me being pan doesn’t change anything?”

Louis looks up sharply, “What? Of course it doesn’t change anything! Why would it?”

Harry smiles sadly at Louis’ offended tone, “Well, it’s like you said, it mattered to my last boyfriend. It’s a thing for some people, you know? They think that being attracted to multiple genders means I’m going to cheat on them.”

Louis huffs indignantly, “Well that’s stupid.”

“So is thinking I wouldn’t like you because you’re ace,” Harry replies gently.

Louis narrows his eyes at him, mouth open and ready with a comeback, but instead the tension leaks out of him and he looks like he had an epiphany.

“Oh,” is all that comes out.

“Yeah,” Harry chuckles.

Louis straightens up and tries to save face, “Well, that’s that sorted then.”

Harry shakes his head, still laughing to himself, “Not really, love. We still have a lot to talk about.”

“I know that!” Louis says immediately, pouting a little. “Why don’t we talk about it over some take out?”

Harry’s chuckles become full on belly laughs, and he starts to rock Louis side to side, hugging him as tightly as possible. “You got yourself a deal.”

 

 


End file.
